Huntsville gazette., 1887-10-08

FannOunce myself as q newspaper cor
respondent, and we are at once admit.
pted.o although the Hindu janitor looks
with. no small wonder at Mrs. Ker az
| she enters, and asks whether the bib
loque Qady) is a correspondent also.
Just then up comes the English in
spector, who greets us heartily, and
ushers us into what looks at first sight
like children's industrial school in
full action. Scores of little brown
figures are plating baskets. twisting
ropes, or cutting out sheets of canvas
for tent-making as busily as bees.
But where on earth are the mur.
derers?" cried my American friend,
staring around him in amazemenf.
IF these children are precocious
enough to strangle grown men already
they 60 long ways ahead of our Yam
kee boys at home
-, this is only a retormatory." says
the inspector. laughing, "where We
keep the children of Thugs. or Tugs.
as they are really called-a very good
name for strangers, by-the-by. The
papas are in their village just across
the road, which they're never allowed
to leave, and if you like Wen go over
and look at them"
On the other side of the road stands
a high bamboo palisade. above which
peer the grass thatches of a number Of
tiny native huts. The one narrow ell
trance of this inclosure is guarded b
magnificent Sikh soldier
tall. strong and shapely a.
bronze statue cs Hercuie,
whose bold, swarthy face ard Eoen
black eyes look very picturesque be.
meath his crimson turban. After ex
changing word or two with our CON
ductor, as he steps back with mill
tary salute to let us pass in, and the
next moment we are standing amia the
most formidable gang of murderers
upon the face of the earth.
The theory that every man wears
on his countenance the stamp of his
nature is true only within certain
limits. Many of the great criminals
whom / have seen bore in theil
faces terrible warning of what they
were; but with the Thugs of Jabalpur
it is not so. These human vampires
who now gather round me. every one
of whom has taken more lives than any
public executioner in Europe. are
to the outward eye set of quiet.
slouching, meager old men. who might
he a gang of beggars, . group of harm
less village folk, a party of super
annuated native workmen, or any
thing on earth but what they really
are.
That's the chief" whispers ny
guide, pointing to small, lean gray.
beard with white turban. who Is s;t.
ting before the nearest hut rocking
child on his knee and strolling its thin
little brown face with the hand that
has shed the blood Of his fellowmen
like water.
ASK him." rejoin I, chow many
murders he has committed. =
A momentary CLEAN of cunning
wrinkles in the sunken eyes. The old
tiger is evidently suspicious, and stands
on his guard.
81 can not tell" he answers, with al
Indifference which, under such circum-
stances, has in it something indescrib
ably ghastly; Il didn't keep count o
them beyond a hundred"
Pretty we'll" mutters the in.
spector; ''but Colonel Taylor's pris.
oner. Ameer Ali. owned to 700"
He must have been a nice young
man, that Ameer Ali, observed l.
you remember his saying: Eve
finally decided to murder the men dl.
rectly after our evening prayers.
Just then noticed that the line of hoy
els has gap in it every here and there,
as if hut had fal len or been pulled
down, and the inspector tells me, with
Il look of unwonted awe upon his bold
bluff face, that. whenever one of these
wretches dies his house is instantly
razed to the ground, as if to ei1ace his
very memory from the earth
Now, before we CO." says / to oua
conductor. Il mean to see for myself
how the strangling was done. Oblige
me by telling this man to put his
moose round my wrist, for don't care
to trust him with my throat. "
The savage eagerness with which
the withered old skeleton obeys the call
as if filled with fresh life by even tn:
make-believe show of MURDERS feai
full to see Knotting a small coin ii
the corner of his handkerchief to give
him a sure hold. he slips the moose
around my arm. and then. brin ging
his knuckles together with Il sudden
twist, gives my wrist a squeeze that
almost makes the bone crack.
The awful change that passes over
his face at that moment BATTLES all
description. His dull, fimsy eyes
seem to blaze with he'll fire. his sharp,
white teeth are laid bare III Il wolf
ish grin, his shrivelod, corpsa-like
features quiver with ferocious JOY so
tiendish that an actual demon starting
1. e1,,, ,,,o could co..,.nalu ha NJ ara